Washed More Clean

 

The week of our monster storm early in the month brought our rain year's total up to 10.4".  The rain event that began Saturday and ended Tuesday brought 1.62" more, for a total of 12.02" (305 mm).   The garden is moisture-fat and foliage is so very clean.  

Harbinger of Spring:

Wet foliage magic:

Agave marmorata flower stem continues its ascent.  It is not taking the winter off.  Leucadendron 'Sylvan Red' below:

Unlike Agave marmorata, Agave parrasana's flower stem paused for the winter. 

I was able to tackle the removal of  dying Leucospermum 'Yellow Bird'  before and after the latest rains.  

A whole lot of lopping and chopping:

Three bins stuffed full:

From the driveway side of the oak, looking under the oak's lowest branches, the removal of 'Yellow Bird' has opened up a lot of space.  'Yellow Bird''s stump is visible:

A different angle looking at the area from the street, with the Leucospermum stump visible upper middle of the photo:

The two Aloes at lower left in the above photo, A. tweediae and A. suprafoliata, were nearly engulfed by the Leucospermum, but survived.   I think they will recover.  They were also impeded by a spreading clump of Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor' which I also removed.  All the rain made the Agaves easy to dig out.

Plants on the front slope washed clean by so much rain look very good.  The slope is filling in some what.  With less empty space it looks better.

Leucadendron 'More Silver' really improved in 2023 thanks to last winter's lavish rainfall, and it is in full flower at the moment:

Not my favorite Leucadendron--I wish it was more silver than it is--but it's pleasing to see it looking so healthy.  

Salvia apiana, planted on the front slope last year, is likely to flower this spring.  It is native right to this area and is a favorite of native bees and butterflies as well as honeybees.

Unquestionably more silver:

Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' is not yet stripped of its flowers by rabbits.  The local raptors and coyotes seem to have thinned the rabbit population somewhat.

Aloes on the front slope flowering at the moment.  A. petricola...

...and A. taurii, which has a flower somewhat similar to A. castanea, though without castanea's dark brown nectar.

Drimia Maritima's undulating foliage in the background: 

In other parts of the garden, a new impulse buy plant purchase, Euphorbia 'Miner's Merlot'.  I could not resist the color, though when summer arrives, heat may quickly kill it.  I've not been able to keep this kind of Euphorbia alive for long.  

There's always Aeonium 'Zwartzkop' for black foliage, here appearing to inspect Hippeastrum papillio:

Freesia time about to begin.  I managed to prop most of them up with small circles of hardware cloth, so the flowers will not be flopped over face down in the mulch.

So that's what's up in the garden here.